Harlequin Intrigue March 2021--Box Set 1 of 2

by Cindi Myers

  Jackson and the drone operator had gathered by the police cruiser, where Jackson had spread out the map of the mountain area above. He instructed the other man on what they wanted to survey. As she approached, she heard the drone operator issue a low whistle, look up toward the mountains and rub his head.

  “Lots of dense vegetation, but hopefully the laser will be able to get through to get the data we need for Robbie and Sophie,” the man said.

  “What if there isn’t enough data, Rick?” Jackson asked, taking the words right out of her mouth.

  With a shrug, Rick said, “Robbie and Sophie are miracle workers. They can probably download topographical maps of the area and work them into any analysis to fill in gaps.”

  “Will it take long?” Rhea asked.

  Rick peered up at the mountains again and said, “Your cousins sent me the specs for several flight plans. I’ve programmed them into my tablet, and once we send up the drone, it will fly those plans on its own to collect the data. My guess is a couple of hours.”

  “And then you send the data to my cousins?” Jackson said.

  Rick nodded. “I’ll transmit it to them, and they’ll use their programs to get whatever images you want.” Knowing what question would come next, Rick added, “With their supercomputers, it shouldn’t take too long to process the data. You’d probably have it tomorrow if they jump right on it.”

  “Sounds good, and thanks again for doing this,” Jackson said.

  “Anything I can do. I can only imagine how hard it must be for you, Rhea. Hopefully we’ll be able to help you find your sister,” Rick said and walked to his tablet and remote controls. He picked up the controls, and a second later, the propellers whirred to life. With some swipes on the tablet, the drone lifted off and sped toward the mountains.

  Jackson and she leaned against the cruiser and watched the drone disappear up the mountain, but the hum of the propellers gave testament that it was still there, working its way along the first of the flight plans that Jackson’s cousins had programmed. Rick walked back toward them, his gaze locked on his tablet. As he neared, he held it up for them to see the images that the drone was capturing.

  “Lots and lots of trees,” Rhea said, slightly worried that was all the imagery would capture.

  Rick nodded, but seeing her concerns, he explained. “That’s what our eyes and the camera see, but the LIDAR is getting a lot more. Trust me.”

  “We do,” Jackson said and laid his arm over her shoulder to draw her near with a reassuring squeeze.

  “We trust you, Rick,” she added, almost in apology for having any doubts.

  “Great. Let me get back to watching, just in case,” he said and walked away to keep an eye on the drone’s footage, the remote control nearby. She assumed that was just in case there was a problem with any of the flight plans.

  The chill of morning faded as an hour passed, and then another, as the drone flew flight plan after flight plan. Jackson and she sat on a blanket spread beneath the shade of a large aspen, sipping coffee from the large thermos they’d brought with them. Taking over some coffee and breakfast pastries to Rick while he monitored the drone.

  It was almost lunch hour when the drone came whirring back and landed just yards away from them. They approached as the blades stopped whirring, and Rick walked over to the machine. He worked quickly to remove the LIDAR device and store it in its protective luggage.

  Jackson helped him with packing up the rest of the equipment, and once they were done, Jackson said, “What do you do next?”

  Rick gestured to the luggage with the LIDAR device. “I’m going to connect that to my computer and get the data uploaded to the cloud. Once that’s done, I’ll let Robbie and Sophie know so they can generate the information for you.”

  Jackson nodded and shook the man’s hand. “Thanks again. If there’s ever anything we can do for you—”

  “I’ll let you know. Maybe help me score some BBQ from Declan’s place. I hear it’s the best in the area,” Rick said.

  Jackson smiled. “It is. Whenever you want to head over there, I’ll let him know you’re coming and it’s on me. Whatever you want.”

  “Thanks, Jax. And good luck with everything. Rhea,” the man said with a deferential nod.

  Jackson and Rhea helped Rick load all the equipment containers in the back of his van. After another handshake from Jackson and hug from her, Rick drove off.

  Rhea hoped that they’d gotten what they needed. With Matt virtually eliminated as a suspect, they had to focus on whether the two men at the pub had possibly had a part in Selene’s disappearance, the attacks against her and the destruction at Jackson’s home.

  Jackson laid a hand on her shoulder and drew her near, comforting her. “This will work,” he said with a playful nudge, trying to lighten the mood.

  “It will,” she said with more confidence than she was feeling and with anticipation. His cousins’ supercomputers couldn’t work fast enough as far as she was concerned, but she knew everyone involved would work as quickly as possible.

  But in the meantime, they had little to do and she was too antsy to just sit around. She was even too antsy to sketch, which rarely happened. Jackson must have sensed her mood, since he said, “It’s a beautiful day. Feel like a walk around town?”

  She’d love a walk, but didn’t want to deal with having other people around. She wanted something more private where it just the two of them. “Anywhere it can be just the two of us?”

  Jackson peered at her and nodded. “I know just the place. How about we pick up a picnic lunch?”

  She smiled. “That sounds nice. Thank you.”

  In just over fifteen minutes, they had a picnic lunch from one of the restaurants in Regina and were back on the road. Not far past the lake and nearby spillway, Jackson turned off onto a side road that ran parallel to the lake. Every now and then he’d look back, as if to check if anyone was following, but apparently satisfied they were alone, he continued on their trek. To the right of the paved road was what looked like a hiking trail that ran for some distance.

  Less than a quarter mile from the turnoff, they pulled up in front of a large cabin that faced the lake. It reminded her of Jackson’s home, and when they pulled into the driveway, she noticed the mailbox with the owner’s name: Whitaker.

  “Is this your family’s place?” she asked as Jackson parked the cruiser.

  “Mom and Dad’s place. While they’re in Florida, I come up here every week or so to make sure everything is in order. It’s got nice views of the lake. I figured we could have lunch up on the front porch and then do a short hike along the trail. If you want, that is.”

  “I’d like that,” she said. She also liked that he asked and didn’t assume, unlike her last boyfriend. An artist like her, it had started off well at first, but then he’d become more and more demanding. More controlling until she had finally put an end to the relationship. In the couple of years since then, she’d stayed out of the dating game, focusing on her artwork and building her business.

  She wasn’t sure she could call what was happening with her and Jackson dating, or call him her boyfriend. It was way more than that.

  He grabbed the bag with their food from the back seat and swung around to open her door, ever the gentleman. The comforting touch of his hand came at her back, the pressure gentle as he guided her up the long set of steps up to the generous front porch for the cabin.

  The porch wrapped around the cabin. In the front there were two large rockers and between them a small circular table where he set the bag with their lunch. As Rhea swept past him to one of the rockers, Jackson removed their sandwiches, chips and soda from the bag and laid it all out on the table.

  They settled on the rockers to sit and eat, their words few as they satisfied their hunger, but maybe also possibly because they were both thinking about what had happened that morn
ing and where it might lead.

  For Rhea, there was no doubt the end was near. If the images found nothing, the investigation would go cold again. If there was something on the images...it would help them find her sister, and she refused to give up hope that Selene was alive.

  Jackson took a last bite of his sandwich, scooped up a handful of chips and popped a few into his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully, swallowed and said, “I think it went well this morning.”

  “I think so, although I’m not really into tech. Not a Luddite, mind you, but I like doing things hands-on.”

  He raised an eyebrow and fixed his gaze on her. It was hot, so hot. “I like that you like that.”

  Rhea’s cheeks burned with the heat ignited by his look. She shook her head and chuckled. “I’ll have to remember that.”

  “And me? Will you remember me?” Jackson said, his mood growing more somber.

  Remember him? How can I ever forget him? She reached over and laid her hand on his forearm. With a tender stroke, she said, “I could never forget you, Jax. What we have...it’s complicated, isn’t it?”

  “It is, but you’re very special to me, Rhea. Whatever happens...” He wagged his head in an almost defeated gesture, laced his fingers with hers and offered her a sad smile. “How about that hike?”

  “Sounds nice,” she said, eager to move away from a discussion that could only bring sadness.

  Hand-in-hand they walked down the steps and across the one-lane road to a small path that led to the trail by the lake. Sunlight frolicked on the surface of the lake, glittering like silver and ice-blue confetti against the cerulean blue waters. Waters that lapped softly along the reeds at the lake’s edges.

  Ducks and geese swam here and there on the surfaces, dark shapes against the light dancing on the lake. Far ahead of them, wading in the grasses on long sticklike legs, a great blue heron stood still, patient. Waiting to snare a meal. They carefully walked past so as not to disturb the bird and pushed on, voices silent. Thoughts loud, but calming slowly thanks to the beauty of the nature around them. A little farther up the trail, the sudden and loud flap of wings alerted them to a large bird taking flight.

  A bald eagle soared into view over the lake, majestic and immense. With a few flaps of its wings the eagle climbed ever higher, then glided on a burst of breeze, reveling in its freedom.

  * * *

  JACKSON WATCHED THE regal bird soar and dance on the wind. Its flight graceful, but filled with strength. In some ways, Rhea was like that bird. Elegant. Powerful. Free.

  He had to remind himself of that. Free to choose her own path. Free to leave when the time came, but much like the bald eagles who left in late winter, sometimes a pair would stay behind to nest and build a family.

  They walked together for a good hour, enjoying the many sights along the lake. The spring weather was perfect for their walk, with a slight breeze to combat the heat building from the bright sunlight. In the shade of the trees on the trail, it was almost a little chilly and when Rhea shivered, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and drew her close.

  Hips bumping, they finally turned around and strolled back toward his parents’ home, peace filling him. Funny, really, if you thought about it. He was in the middle of an active investigation. Someone was trying to hurt her, maybe even kill her, and yet what he felt was a peace that he hadn’t experienced in years.

  His heart was huge with that peace, with love for her, as they got back into the cruiser to head back to the police station for another look through their notes and to see if anyone needed his help on any other cases. The chief had warned him about how the investigation was taking too much of his time and the town’s resources. With some downtime until his cousins came through with the information from the LIDAR footage, he had to give his attention to other cases his colleagues might be working on.

  Back at the police station, he did just that, leaving Rhea comfortably tucked away in his office sketching while he checked in with the other officers on the force. He assisted one with recreating the scene of a hit-and-run. At another desk, an officer asked for advice about a burglary and that officer’s version of the entry into the building.

  Pleased with being of help to his colleagues, he was returning to his office when his police chief walked back into the station. If he remembered correctly, his boss had had a meeting with the mayor and some members of the town council about the police budget for the coming year.

  “How’d it go, Bill?” he asked, hoping for positive news.

  The police chief lifted his meaty shoulders in a careless way. “It’s too soon to know, but at least it wasn’t an immediate rejection.”

  Jackson heard the tone of worry in his chief’s voice. “Which might happen if they get a whiff of any issues. Like Selene’s case, right?”

  His boss glared at him. “Like that, Jax. I told you that when you first decided on this lunacy. Have you made any progress?”

  Jackson clenched his jaw, biting back his anger. With a cleansing breath, he said, “We have. We’ve pretty much eliminated Matt Davis as a suspect. I’ve called Avalon PD to let them know that. We have photos of two possible suspects and a witness who saw their vehicle by the victim’s sedan the night of her disappearance. Once we have the results of some drone imagery, we may know their whereabouts.”

  Taken aback, possibly shamed, the chief blustered, “Well, that all sounds good, Jax. Keep me posted.”

  The older man hurried away and Jackson returned to his office, where Rhea was still bent over her sketch pad, drawing.

  “It’s almost six. Are you ready to go? Maybe get dinner?” he said, but as he walked toward her his smartphone chirped. He grabbed it off his desk and realized it was his cousin Robbie calling.

  “Hey, Robbie. Do you have good news for us?”

  Rhea’s head popped up at the sound of his cousin’s name.

  “Putting you on speaker,” he said as he walked over to Rhea and sat in the chair beside her, the smartphone held between them.

  “Okay. I’ve got Sophie here with me, and like I said, good news. We were able to process the LIDAR data and get some images for you. How about a video call and a bigger screen, so we can explain the information?”

  “I’ll arrange that. I’d also like to include one of my colleagues who is familiar with the area,” he said.

  “Great. I’ll send a link to the meeting. Fifteen minutes?” Sophie asked.

  “We’ll be ready,” Jackson said and hung up. He shared a look with Rhea and hoped she would be.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Jackson had set up a large projection monitor in the conference room and sat next to her, a laptop before him ready to make the video call. Officer Dillon sat across from them at the table, poised with pen and paper to take notes if necessary.

  Following the link Sophie had sent, Jackson began the video call. The almost musical beep-bloop-beep chime ended quickly as Robbie and Sophie answered and their smiling faces jumped onto the big screen in front of them.

  Even if she hadn’t been told that they were Jackson’s cousins, she would have seen the family resemblance. They both had the same square jaw, straight nose and thumbprint cleft in their chins. Broad dimples bracketed their mouths, and like Jackson, they had light eyes, although it was hard to tell what color thanks to the quality of the video combined with the projection.

  Jackson’s hair was a light brown, but Robbie and Sophie both had coffee brown, slightly wavier locks. Robbie was handsome. Sophie beautiful, but not in a classic way. More like a warrior goddess, strong and sure of herself.

  “Happy to see you, primo,” she said.

  “Happy to see the both of you, and thank you again. I’ve got Rhea and Officer Dillon with me,” he said, although he was the only one visible on the video call thanks to the angle of the laptop’s camera.

  “Like I said before, we’ve got good news
for you,” Robbie said and, a second later, a photo replaced their smiling images.

  “We took the LIDAR images, and this is the raw photo,” Robbie said, describing the first image. “There’s lots of forest on both mountains, except for the ski resort to the extreme right and an obvious trail near that area.”

  As Robbie spoke, the mouse highlighted the areas his cousin was describing. When he shifted to the path close to the resort, Dillon spoke up. “That’s the trail that most hikers use.”

  After that, Robbie continued, pointing toward the middle of the photo. “Here there appears to be slightly less vegetation, but then it’s quite dense to the left of it.”

  Dillon rose from his spot and walked toward the screen. Gesturing to the area where the forest was less dense, he said, “I think this is the old logging road I told you about. I’m not sure just how passable the road is nowadays, and I don’t think many people use it.”

  “Thanks for that info, Officer Dillon,” Sophie said. “There was clearly something there even before we processed the image with our software.”

  When she finished, another image immediately popped up on the screen, surprising them with the look of it. All vegetation had been cleared away, revealing the contours of the mountainside, as well as what appeared to be other features.

  Robbie came back online and continued with his explanation. “We downloaded a topographical map so we could have reference points to assist us in determining what was natural and what was man-made. Beside the resort area that was visible before, the processed image reveals several buildings beneath the tree line close to the resort and the path of the nearby trail.”

  “Wow, way cool,” Officer Dillon said.

  Very, Rhea thought as Sophie took over, explaining the other features revealed by their work. “There is clearly a break of some kind on the second mountain. I think Officer Dillon mentioned it was an old logging trail. But fairly high up on the trail, there’s a small structure. Maybe a lean-to of some kind.”